Science & Play: Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops – Review and Giveaway

As you all know we have a massive dinosaur fan here. When we visited Charmouth in the summer monkey got to see fossils up close as well as the Charmouth Dinosaur. He was fascinated with the idea of digging up dinosaur fossils. Knowing of his new-found addiction the lovely people at Clementoni sent us the Science & Play set Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops so we could try our hand at paleontology!

The Science & Play Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops is aimed at children slightly older than Monkey but we knew we could have some fun with this set. It was time to get digging.

This is the ideal gift for dinosaur fans, they can dig, discover and then assemble an amazing replica skeleton.

The Science & Play Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops set comes with two dinosaur sets to be uncovered, some fact cards and tools to help in the excavations.

Monkey was eager to get started with the digging, I was interested to see how a nearly 5-year-old would get on. I knew he would need supervision obviously, but could he do any of the digging for himself?

The instruction manual that comes with the set advises placing the excavation brick on a tray with newspaper underneath. It does get quite messy, we made use of a box lid which was great as it was high sided and kept the ‘rock’ in one place as we hammered away.

Monkey decided that we would excavate the T-Rex first, no surprise there. Both sets have a clear motif so it’s easy to identify which dinosaur you are trying to find. The block of ‘rock’ is made of chalk, pumice and sand.

My little dinosaur fan got straight to it once I’d explained how to use the hammer and chisel together.

It was a bit of luck but he struck ‘gold’ quite quickly. Look Mummy! It’s a bone! He hammered away and we could see more and more bone. It was so wonderful to see his little face, he was so excited.

Now I’d be lying if I said he excavated the whole dinosaur by himself. It wasn’t all as easy as the start, and I think a 7-8 year old would need some help too with this dig. But it’s the sort of activity that you can leave and come back to over a period of hours or days. It doesn’t have to be an instant win; which is something I really like about it. Did Monkey get frustrated, no, not at all. He did some digging, I did some, we went away, did something else and came back to it over the course of a day. The excitement level didn’t ebb though. He wanted to see what we would uncover.

When we’d finished our excavations I washed the dinosaur bones and we constructed our T-Rex. I did have to do this myself – not that Monkey couldn’t have put the bones together, he could. But some of the joint connectors were really tight, in fact I had to get Daddy P to push both sides of the skull together for us. It’s made of strong plastic and Monkey is so pleased with the finish result.

We’ll be getting our hammer and chisel out again after our holiday so we can excavate the Triceratops. As I’ve mentioned, Monkey is below the age mentioned for this set, but a 5-year-old under supervision is clearly still able to have a lot of fun and learn through this activity.

The Science & Play Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops set is priced at £14.99, which I think is great value considering you get two sets, and have something to keep at the end of your hard work. The sets are available from Argos.co.uk, Hobbycraft and Debenhams.

disclaimer: we were sent this set in exchange for an honest review.

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Now with Christmas drawing ever closer, we thought it would be a great idea to offer one lucky reader the chance to do some digging of their own. If you’d like to win the Science & Play Archeofun T-Rex & Triceratops set then complete the Gleam form below – good luck!

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Terms and conditions:

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

Only the first step of this form is mandatory, all other steps are optional. Only one entry per person is allowed.

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

Once a winner is randomly picked, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within one week, the prize will be allocated to another person.

About Over 40 and a Mum to One

I'm a Mum with an 8 year old son. I had a busy life in Export Sales before my Monkey came along, but decided to become a stay at home Mum once he arrived. Now I enjoy writing my own family lifestyle and travel blog. sharing the adventures that we have as Monkey makes his journey through school. We have a cat called Brewster who makes appearances and I’m a mad Ferrari Formula 1 fan, so that expect to hear about as each season unfolds. We love reviewing days out, toys, games and books and would love the opportunity to look at anything that fits in with our family lifestyle. We are always out and about and offering an insight on the places we visit, with a passion for nature thrown in for good measure. If you like what you read please leave me a comment, I love to hear from people, and always try to reply. Enjoy the read.

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